Dean Rock has backed Cillian O'Connor to bounce back from his All-Ireland final replay nightmare.

Dublin and Mayo looked poised to go to extra time as the ultra reliable O'Connor prepared to take a free that would have drawn the sides level deep into injury time but he pulled his effort wide and it proved to be Mayo's last chance.

Rock observed: "I'd always say if that was a kick, a draw game, I'm sure he would have 100% put it over the bar. There is added pressure in every kick. If you have a kick to win the game there's not as much pressure if you miss, because it's still a draw so it makes a massive difference.

"He is a great free-taker. I'm sure he's disappointed that he had missed a kick, but like, I said before, he doesn't owe anything to Mayo. He's the captain of Mayo and he's won so many Connachts and so many big games for Mayo down the past. I'm sure, like me, he'll be a better free taker next year than he was this year."

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Rock says that preparing for such a pressure situation is virtually impossible.

"You can never train for it. You can train your mind for it obviously. There's situations, there's a lot of variables. There's the crowd, the weather, you have got lads roaring in your face, it's all relative to the situation.

"I suppose if he was in the same situation I'm sure Cillian has learned an awful lot from that, and I'm sure he would probably kick towards the far post the next time as opposed to the near post, so little things like that, but you can't necessarily train yourself for it, but you can certainly learn."